


Pretty Face, with The Perfect Body

by kyradvb



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: A bit of hugging, And a bit of cheek caressing, And a lot of I love you's, But when can Robron ever have a good night, Husbands wanting to have a good night, M/M, Talking and working through stuff together, This is after the Whites' crash, Without angst involved into that night, also, healthy relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 14:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14546940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyradvb/pseuds/kyradvb
Summary: Robert telling his story about after he got send away by Jack, up until when he met Aaron.





	Pretty Face, with The Perfect Body

**Author's Note:**

> I have read a lot of theories on Tumblr about Robert being a rent boy in his lost years and it became canon for me, so I wrote this.

Tonight Aaron and Robert decided that they would go to the club where they were the night they were reunited. Just the two of them, no crazy girls, having a fun night out. The deal that they made is that they are allowed to flirt a little with other people, but only use their eyes and not their hands. They even have a little bet going on that the first person who gets a number, gets a free pint.

Not even ten minutes after they arrived, a man came up to Robert and started chatting him up. Aaron moves away from Robert's side and goes to stand behind the man, following the conversation with a huge grin on his face.

"Pretty face, with a perfect body," Says the stranger to Robert mid-conversation.

At first Aaron chuckled from where he was standing behind the man that was trying to chat Robert up, but he stopped when he saw the expression on Robert's face change into something he couldn't read. He saw Robert's eyes flicker with mixed emotions. Robert looked away for a second and then looked back at the man again, telling him that he was not interested and started walking away in a fast pace.

"What was that about?" Aaron asked Robert, once he caught up with him. "You don't have to be scared that I think you are going to cheat or something. Remember the deal we made?"

Robert shook his head, still not looking at Aaron. "It's not about that."

"Then what is it about? Remember Robert, we keep talking and keep working through things together."

That made Robert look at Aaron, and Aaron can see the debate going on in Robert's head. He is about to say something but then Robert sighs and nods. "Okay, but can we go home first?"

\---

The walk home was entirely silent, followed by a few more minutes of silence in which Robert sits down on the couch and Aaron grabs to glasses of water, also sitting down on the couch. Before he can say anything, Robert decides to speak up.

"It was what he said."

Aaron looks over at Robert. "About your face?"

"Pretty face, with a perfect body," Robert quotes, and Aaron can hear that he uses some kind of tone in his voice as he says it. 

This results into Aaron giving Robert a questioning loo6

"I told you before that when my dad send me away in 2005 that I went to live with my grandmother, in Spain, right?" Robert starts and Aaron nods. "I didn't tell you about after that, only that at one point I moved to London."

"Where you met the Whites," Aaron fills in for Robert.

Robert nods. "Yeah."

"And what has that got to do with what that man said?" Aaron asks, before he can stop himself.

Robert shook his head. "Just... Listen, okay?"

He looks at Aaron and Aaron nods at him, the look in his eyes saying 'I am here for you'. That alone is enough to make Robert start talking again.

"So, uh, from 2005 until 2009 I lived in Spain. I worked on a little farm there. It was the only job that I could do there, as that was the only thing I had enough knowledge on to actually fill up a whole job. Then my dad died and I went to the funeral with my grandmother. Back in Emmerdale I decided that I was only going back to Spain to gather my stuff and move to London. Going to London was the plan I had before my dad send me away, but when he did that I didn't have enough money yet. I did make enough money working on that farm in Spain," Robert told it all quickly, and if Aaron had to guess he would way that Robert has told this story multiple times, but probably only in his head to himself.

"The money was only enough for a room though. If I could even call it a room, it was a closet-sized room in the house of a married elderly couple. Not ideal, but it was good enough. After a month of living there I still didn't have a job, so I started using all the money that I had to go to bars and cafes, deciding that after I spend all my money I would go back to Spain and start working on that farm there again. Back then I already had self-destructing tendencies," Robert chuckles sadly after that and Aaron feels his heart break a little.

"But the night I was about to spend my last 20 pounds in a bar, a middle-aged man came to me. He started talking to me, but I didn't really listen, until he started talking about money. He introduced me to the term rent boy," Here Robert stops talking again and he looks at Aaron, looking for his eyes. He thought that he would find disappointment, maybe even disgust. Instead he found support and love. This made him reach out and grab Aaron's hand, before continuing again.

"Before accepting it, I asked him the question 'why me', and his answer was clear and quick to the point... I had a 'Pretty face, with the perfect body," Robert flinches a bit, but keeps on talking anyway. 

"The money it paid was good. The amount depending on what the client exactly wanted from me. First I had maybe three clients a week, and I made more money in two weeks than I used to in a month at that farm in Spain. Soon enough I was able to move out of the closet-sized room and into an apartment I shared with three other rent boys. Their names were James, Drew and Connor. All four of us worked for that same man that had started talking to me in that bar," Robert looks down at his feet, scratching his head with his free hand. "After I moved in there, that man had more control over me. He would come in there with clients and the client would be able to pick out with what boy he wanted to do what from the boys that were home. We were able to refuse, but the money... I was never able to refuse because of that. So I went from three clients a week, to one or more clients everyday. That is also when sex lost its meaning for me."

Aaron felt himself grow upset, a familiar feeling settling in his stomach. "Did someone ever-"

"-No one ever raped me, all of it was with my and the other persons consent," Robert cut him off and Aaron felt the feeling settle down a little, relieve coming up.

Robert squeezed Aaron's hand a little. "Are you okay with me telling more?"

Aaron's eyes quickly shot up to Robert's eyes. "Of course. God, you are telling me a big part of your life and you are asking me if I am okay with it?"

"Just because of the subject,"

"Yes, Rob, and thank you. As long as it is okay for you to tell me more, it is okay with me."

Robert nodded, before looking away again. Aaron thinks he is trying to find words to tell more.

"Not only sex had lost meaning, but actual love. The love that you are given by people around you, like... parents. But I lost that love when I was send away. The loss became more prominent when I also lost the meaning of physical love. I just kind of felt empty. The emptiness did make it easier to take on more clients, and so make more money. At this point I was also having a sexual relationship with one of the other boys in the house, Connor. Uh, sorry, that was not relevant to the story," Before Aaron can reassure Robert that it is okay, Robert picks up his story again.

"Then there was one of my clients, a fancy businessman, in his early thirties, that asked me to join him to a fancy party of some sort. I agreed, as long as he would pay me a good price. The party was filled with businessmen and women, all with a high status, a lot of power and a lot of money. The man that I came along with got really drunk, left after an hour or so. I stayed for the free food and free drinks. That was when I met Lawrence. He started talking to me, asking me how such a young man landed himself a place at such a fancy event. I made something up, told him I was on the verge of starting my own business. Obviously I wasn't, but I knew enough to make myself sound so good that he offered me an amazing job at his business," Aaron could see something change in Robert's expression, gratefulness?

"Little did Lawrence know, that he saved me from being a rent boy for the rest of my life. The job he offered made me enough money that I could get out of that life. I told the man from that bar that I was quitting, and thank god, he just let me go. I moved out of the shared house I lived in and went to live in a small studio. This was around late 2011. I have never told Lawrence, and can never tell him how grateful I am for that," This time Aaron sees Robert's eyes gloss over with tears, and he has to hold himself back caressing Robert's cheek, scared that Robert will let his walls up if he does so.

Robert blinks furiously and quickly wipes the few tears that fall. "And then I met his oldest daughter, Chrissie. She had just had her heart broken by hear ex-husband and Lachlan's father. We went out for drinks a lot together, we talked a lot. She was the closest person I had ever since I had left Emmerdale. I fell in love. Or so I thought. I didn't fall in love, but I did love her and that was a lot more than that I had in quite some years, so I proposed to her. She said yes and I felt so happy because I had a sort of family again. They might not all have liked me, or more so hated me, but they gave me what I needed the most at that moment. Lawrence, Chrissie, Lachlan and I hate to say but even Rebecca. A very, very dysfunctional family," Robert smiles at what he just said and Aaron can see that is a genuine smile. As much as he disliked and dislikes the Whites, he mentally thanks them for giving Robert what he needed. Then Robert's smile disappears again.

"After all that I put her through after we moved here, Chrissie might would have never believed me, but she warmed me up again. She warmed me up to the idea of love. And also her, I never have and never get to thank," A deep sigh and another round of furious blinking." And then I met you,"

Robert stops and grabs Aaron's free hand in his free hand.

"You entirely re-introduced the whole concept love to me."

This time Aaron did not stop himself from caressing Robert's cheek. "Rob,"

"No," Robert cut him off. "You did Aaron. Physically, but also mentally. You gave me more love than I had ever had in my whole life. And the love you gave me was for me, not for my body, not for the smarts, but for me, for who I am. I love you."

"And I love you," Now Aaron grabs Robert's face between both of his hands. "Rob, I love you. All of you. This story, this part of you, it doesn't change anything for me. I am grateful that you told me."

Robert has full on tears streaming down his face now, and Aaron can see that they are from happiness and not sadness. He really wants to kiss Robert right now, but instead goes for a hug, knowing that a kiss is not what Robert needs right now.

"It's okay," Aaron says as he starts rubbing Robert's back. "It's okay, and I love you now and I will keep loving you. Never forget that."

Through the tears, Robert can manage a smile and a small voice. "I love you too."

Aaron pulls back and feels his own tears well up in his eyes now. "Now, you soft git, how about I start making us some greasy and unhealthy midnight snack and you start some episode of Friends on Netflix?"

And they did just that.


End file.
